The Repercussion of Our Choice

By: Abolqaz Bin Anuar

In less than 3 days our nation would be embarking on a battle. This is not a physical battle, but merely a spiritual one. That may not sound right, but I assure you readers, that the outcome of this battle will determine more than just the rightful leaders of our Malaysian nation. It will determine the way of life, a path of which we will choose in less than 3 days’ time. The outcome of the 13th General Elections will be determined by us, for each hand that votes will write the history of our nation’s future.

Many years ago, the Sultans of Malaya made a choice. They choose to allow the British to come and rule over our land. However since many Malays refused to work for the oppressors, the British had no choice but to bring in two people from their nearest Asian colonies to come and work the land. These once immigrant who came mostly by force was forced to stay in a foreign land to work with great hardship. For a hundred years the British ruled over us, taking our land, our resources and our dignity. They divided the three races for divided people are much easier to rule. As the years past a war broke out in 1939. What happened in many miles away also had an effect on our forefathers. When the war came, the Brits showed us their true colours. They fled our land and forced us to fend for ourselves. After almost five years of Japanese occupation the brave few from all the races help to scurry the Japanese out of the land, and at that moment the Chinese and Indians ceased to become immigrants, they were already at that time in my eyes, our fellow countrymen.

After returning to Malaya, the British sought to tighten their control over the land by imposing the ‘Malayan Union’ marking this land as an official colony of the British Empire, but once again the ‘Malayan’ (Malayan does not mean Malays but the people who lived in Malaya) rose up together and opposed this proposal. We had figured then, that if we could fend of the Japanese, we could bloody well run our own country (as the Brits would put it). So we came together to impose a change in our way of life, from being oppressed we fought for change and voted for change and as we know on the 31^st of August 1957, we changed our own fate by forming a government that would take us into the future, Our own future.

We will always remember those Malayans, because of their action; with a stroke of a pen we formed a nation. “The greatest victory is one won without any bloodshed,” is the words of the great Sun Tzu and we in 1957 achieved this victory.

The repercussions of what the past chose to do, is now the reality of the present. By every move they make, every action they take and every word they said leads to this very moment in time, and it is now our time to write the story. The Malayans, who fought for independence many years ago, fight because they would like the future to be a better place. As a result Malaysia was born, giving our people a sense of identity. Giving us our nation, and while we are in it we know that we will live here as free men.

On the 5^th of May 2013, we must now embark on a journey just as they did. Search your soul for, your soul in the name of all that is good will tell you where to mark, or rather who to mark. Come Sunday, each ballot will have the potential to shape the future of our nation. Personally I would vote for change. I maybe young and speak thru my heart of youth and full of naive, but my heart only gives me the courage to act, while my brain gave me a reason to do so. I can think, and from what I see, the Barisan National government of today, are not the same as they once was. As all those who have been power for too long, they have become arrogant, complacent and corrupted. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. However that is only me. I will not dwell much on this subject because this is not the point that I am trying to make.

All those who are able to vote, must do so because our choices are never our own. From the day we were born to the moment we die, our fate will always be tied with the fate of others. Those people who are bound with us lived in the past and those who will be born in the future. We are tied to the past as they had set the platform and the condition of the present. Just as how we will to the children of the future. Therefore come the election date, we must choose wisely, for there is no telling the consequences of our choices.

There will be many like myself who will be voting for the first time. It is only natural if we feel fear. For it is in the human nature to be afraid of the unknown. It is a mechanism of defence that our brain has imposed on our hearts. To that I say, seek wisdom to see what is right and what is wrong, and always muster every inch of our courage to do what is right. After all, the survival of all that is good and true has always demand for our courage. Where would we be if our fathers did not have the courage to fight for our freedom? Do not fear the lies and deceptions of men and devils, for whatever or however they plan to swerve you away from the truth, God could always easily trump them. Vote for whatever you think that is right, for if you do with a good heart and with hope for a better world, as God will have it, everything will be alright. No matter how crooked you may feel the world is, always know that good will always triumph against evil, and the truth for all the lies will in the end prevail.

I am not a man of stature; I have no title that says I am better than you. I write with the solemn heart knowing I am one of you. I bleed, breathe and eat as you do. I am a human, and I am a Malaysian.